Where is The Digital Wave Taking Us?

WGBH Forum Network - XWhaves: Where is The Digital Wave Taking Us?":

"XWhaves is a new component of the Woods Hole Film Festival that offers filmmakers an opportunity to reflect on the impact of new technological developments on the shape and nature of filmmaking. Join members of the new media revolution in an active, open discussion of citizen journalism, personal media, video blogging and the convergence of digital storytelling methods with a new era of novel, inexpensive worldwide distribution and other aspects of the ever-changing landscape of how content gets delivered."

Watch the video.

Wall Street Journal: Videoblogging

Vlogger (noun): Blogger With Video Camera
By DIONNE SEARCEY
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 16, 2005; Page B1

"On another vlog, stevegarfield.blogs.com/videoblog/, Steve Garfield screens daily life in his Boston home. He calls it "The Carol and Steve Show," where viewers can watch Mr. Garfield and his wife, Carol, opening Hanukkah gifts or delighting in their leftover Thanksgiving sweet-potato soufflé. The show is in its 51st episode.

For Mr. Garfield, vlogging is an easy outlet for his creative side. It's unlikely a major network would pick up 'The Carol and Steve Show," but the Internet allows him to broadcast his show as much as he wants along with other videos that teach would-be vloggers basic video techniques, as well a show he narrates called "Vlog Soup" pointing out his top picks among new vlogs.

"It's part of the democratization of media," says Mr. Garfield. "It gives people the tools to express themselves and be creative in all different ways."

Mr. Garfield, who in the past produced public-access shows, is making a career, of sorts, out of vlogging, serving as a correspondent for a popular blog (rocketboom.com/vlog) that includes homemade news reports, and he is paid to create vlogs for others.

One of Mr. Garfield's clients is Boston City Councilor John Tobin, whose vlog, votejohntobin.com/blog/Videos, gives regular updates on issues for his constituents. Leading up to the November election Mr. Tobin updated the vlog every day.

Viewers could tune in and watch him point out potholes in neighborhood roadways and show busy intersections where he wanted to install speed bumps. On Election Day, he received 706 hits on his site, nearly double the amount of hits for his vlog in November of the prior year."

Vlogger Calendar 2006

Vlogger Calendar 2006 > XOLO.TV Video Blog Shop | CafePress.
All profits go to charity.

Call me Mr. September. Ha!

My First Razr Recording

Here's my first video recorded on the Motorola Razr.

I feel like Thomas Edison making the first tinny recording. Watson, come here I need you. I'll probably stick to video cameras for making videos and phone for making phone calls.

Burnshee - Thornside Now Playing

Burnshee - Thornside is featured on the Second Life Machinima promo page in the disco funk video Second Take.

Can I Be A Star [ mp3 ]

With lyrics like, "My body and my brain are for all kinds of users. I'll be your merchandise," how can you go wrong?
via [ Eric Rice ]

links for 2005-12-15

• I like to watch
  Videoblogging article by Mike Miliard of The Boston Phoenix
  (tags: press vlog videblogging News)
• Don't Let This Happen to You! - Jennifer Rundle's Blog
  Drinking reduces your agility. Jennifer make s a fun vlog remix.
  (tags: watchthis vlog)

City officials encourage giant video pollution

Sasha Talcott wrote about plans for a huge video wall on the TD Banknorth Garden, Giant video eyed for wall of Garden - The Boston Globe:

"Garden executives said they originally proposed a smaller billboard, but city officials wanted one that was larger. The long banner display also was not in the original plan, Garden officials said."

Why are city officials encouraging the owners of the Garden to increase the size of their proposed video wall?

It's just more eye pollution. It's like when I'm driving down the VFW Parkway, why do I need to see a humongous billboard staring me in the face at every turn?

The Garden plans to use two-thirds of the time for advertisements, with the rest devoted to promotions of the teams, Garden events and public service announcements.

If this video wall does get approved, how about giving some air time to local artists? I know some video artists that would be happy to have their work showcased. At least that would reduce the amount of advertising that we'd be subjected to.

Microsoft chooses an RSS icon

Microsoft Team RSS Blog : Icons: It’s still orange:

"I’m excited to announce that we’re adopting the icon used in Firefox."

Video blogging is ready for its close-up

Just just in from tomorrow's Boston Phoenix...

I like to watch
Video blogging is ready for its close-up
BY MIKE MILIARD

"When Steve Garfield looks ahead, he sees a further leveling of the playing field. And he can’t wait. "People who are normally just passive consumers of video are gonna say, ‘Whoa, we can create it and we can get it out there the same way the big networks are getting it out.’ Everything will be equal. There are no barriers to entry, of cost or distribution. It’s available to anybody. There are stories to be told. And there are a lot of stories out there.""

AND

The best of the rest
Six must-see video blogs
BY MIKE MILIARD

A Hotel with a Recording Studio

The Mosser Hotel is now the only San Francisco hotel to feature a State-of-the-Art Recording Studio!

Normalizing my blogs data

Structured Blogging:

"Structured Blogging is a way to get more information on the web in a way that's more usable. You can enter information in this form and it'll get published on your blog like a normal entry, but it will also be published in a machine-readable format so that other services can read and understand it."

Will this solve the problem of having duplicate instances of the same data everywhere?

What happens when I change my blog?

Do the changes get recognized on these other services?
via [ JD ]

WordPress Blog Goodies

Squidoo : Lenses : WordPress Blog Goodies

What time is it?

I just added this time and date clock to my Google home page.

Discover Google Homepage Content.

Programmers, Create a Module for the Google Homepage using hte new Google Homepage API.
via [ WebProNews ]

Merry Chrismukkah

The Committe to Save Merry Christmas wants to put the Christ back in Christmas.

Christian Science Monitor asks, Why avoid using 'Merry Christmas'?

Buy Nothing Christmas, a national initiative started by Canadian Mennonites who offer a prophetic "no" to the patterns of over-consumption of middle-class North Americans.

Chrismukkah.

links for 2005-12-13

• Vimeo: No such thing as an objective viewpoint
  My favorite 17 seconds of the first 13 minutes of This Divided State.
  (tags: watchthis video)
• Bicycle Sidewalk
  American vlogger in Japan
  (tags: watchthis vlog)

Do you Squidoo?

Visit Steve Garfield's Lens over on Squidoo.
It's an easy way for me to gather information from many of my blogs, and provide lists of links.

I'm just getting started.

Create your own.

I also created a videoblog lens. This a fun and straighforward way of creating web pages of value.

People are computers

Amazon Mechanical Turk.

Writing a spec script

Ken Levine wrote on MASH, Cheers, Frazier, Becker, Wings, Raymond and dozens of other great things. He's got a blog discussing WHAT to write as a spec script, HOW to write it, and some inside dirt on what producers think when they read it.
via [ Rick Jenkins - The Comedy Studio ]

Michael Moore in Utah

Watch the first 26 minutes of This Divided State.

Watch my favorite 17 seconds of the first 13 minutes of this video.

Why did I join TagWorld?

[TagWorld :: Home]

Unclog the creative arteries of Hollywood

Kent Nichols writes The Indie TV Movement is Here:

"A model like this will unclog the creative arteries of Hollywood. It would allow many flowers to bloom and let the shows with true potential find their audiences. It would also allow writers to take greater risks with experimenting with new forms of storytelling that are outside of the traditional four camera sitcom and single camera drama.

It could turn Television in the new millennium into what cinema was in the late 1960s and 1970s was -- a place for young and talented storytellers to flex their muscles and tell stories like they've never been told before. "

It's a time for exciting ideas!

Rocketboom on TiVo via the web

Could This Woman Drive Broadband TV?:

"... thanks largely to Ms. Congdon's kooky but comely style, Rocketboom is generating 100,000 visitors a day, according to Sunday's New York Times. PC and video iPod owners are making Rocketboom's video blogs a daily part of their lives.

The video blogging site is doing so well, in fact, that TiVo has agreed to include Rocketboom in its directory so its DVR owners can watch it on television."

That's not actually true.

You can't subscribe to Rocketboom with your TiVo remote.

You've got to go to a TiVo web page, to subscribe, by entering in your TiVo Manage My Account email address and TiVo Service Number.

http://research.tivo.com/rocketboom/

But before that you've got to get your TiVo online via an Ethernet connection, instead of the default phone line connection.

I'm not set up that way, so I'd need to get an Ethernet connection for my TiVo to try it.

Update from the TiVo site, http://blog.tivo.com/ :

"To subscribe to Rocketboom, you can go to www.tivo.com/rocketboom, or go to the Showcases area on TiVo Central. "

So I guess you can subscribe with your TiVo remote.

Update II from TiVo:
"Thank you for visiting! Sign-ups for Rocketboom as part of the TiVo Video Download trial are currently closed. Please check the Showcases area in the TiVo Central menu on your TiVo DVR for other exciting content available through the TiVo Video Download trial. "

Portable Cooking Lessons

PodCastGO allows you to subscribe to video podcasts. The first show is a cooking show.

What if you don't want to subscribe and want to watch on line?

Your movies on the big screen

Open Screen:

"Whether you sold your home to finance your 35mm masterpiece, or you shot it on DV last night in your basement, if it is under 10 minutes, we'll screen it!"

I've been meaning to get to one of these all year.

December 13th, 7:30pm (film sign-ups at 7:00pm), at The Coolidge Theater

Star Trek Lives

Wired 13.12: To Boldly Go Where No Fan Has Gone Before.

I had some time to read hte current issue of Wired and enjoyed this article about fans keeping Star Trek alive with new web episodes.

Video Podcasts - New York Times

Video Podcasts - New York Times:

"Podcasting is an Internet alternative to broadcasting. Instead of listening to the radio or watching TV, you subscribe to one of the thousands of Web sites that regularly post audio or video programs. New episodes of the programs are delivered to your computer and transferred to a portable player like an iPod, automatically, as soon as they are published - in much the same way that digital video recorders like TiVo allow you to subscribe to TV programs."

I subscribe to people:

Michael Verdi
Chuck Olsen
Josh Leo
Charlene Rue

RAZR V3c on Verizon

RAZR V3c debuts on Verizon - Engadget.

Can I transfer movies to my Mac?

Can I email a recorded movie to an email address instead of Verizon's proprietary website? I've emailed their tech support, but have gotten no response yet. The site seems to indicate that you can:

with getFLIX, e-mail can be more than just text. You can send Video Messages from your phone to an e-mail address.

Howard Mobile Phone Forums.

RAZR V3c - Verizon Wireless Official Site.

RAZR V3c - Motorola Official Site.

The New York Times is blogging

The Carpet Bagger - David Carr.

With permalinks, comments AND links to other sites.

Now if only the Boston Globe would follow thier lead.

Rocketboom for Media Center

eHomeUpgrade | Rocketboom for Media Center:

"So just a few days after Rocketboom for TiVo was announced, Danee de Kruyff today released Rocketboom for MCE that can now be downloaded over at mcesoft (via Lost Remote). 'Rocketboom for Media Center will make the daily vodcast from rocketboom.com available on your Media Center so you no longer have to sit behind a computer to watch them.'"

Hmm...

OMPL and WordPress

Dave’s Wordpress Blog - wordPress.root version 0.3.

Note to self.

Figure this out.

links for 2005-12-11

• Magic Monkey Bob Remixed (I Make Things)
  (tags: watchthis vlog)

Wimpy Streaming Audio and Video

Wimpy: Streaming WebSite Audio & Video Tools: "Automatic streaming media for your WebSite."

I heard about this at the last NE Podcasting meetup.

You can add audio files and playlists to your website. Video too, although is has to be Flash.
via [ Robin Good ]

MyVideoKaraoke Queen Bohemian Rhapsody

Robin Good sends word of his new project MyVideoKaraoke.

MyVideoKaraoke is the online video music clips arcade of street people singing their favorite hits songs. You can immediately upload your own video music clip (.mov or .wmv) with no restrictions in file size or bandwidth.

Watch Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. It's not boring or mundane.

It's authentic.

Rocketboom on TiVO

How To Subscribe to Rocketboom On Your TiVo DVR!

This will be even better when you'll be able to subscribe to more shows directly with your TiVo remote.

The revolution is personal media

TV Stardom on $20 a Day - New York Times.
FREE weblog friendly story link that will never expire.

Michael Verdi comments on the article:

Well I thought that overall that was a very good article. It has lots of good thing to say about the videoblogs (like mine :) ) it references and generally makes videoblogging sound like this new and exciting thing that's happening - which I certainly think is true.

There is one subtle point that they hit on a number of times in the article that I think is off base. And the NY Times isn't the only one to this, it happens in almost every article written in the mainstream press.

Some quotes from the article:

"What makes Rocketboom so different from most of the other video blogs, or vlogs, that have popped up in the last year or so is that the daily episodes are consistently entertaining."

"Many of the world's other vlogs are closer in form to diaries or
home movies - with all the tedium that can imply."

"Most of the vlogs are quite boring"

So here's where I think they miss the point: The value judgement of "consistently entertaining" or "boring" is holdover from commercial TV or film where everyone's goal is to be entertaining to as many people as possible so that they can sell advertising or movie tickets to recoup the enormous costs of production and distribution. While this might still hold somehwhat true in the context of talking about Rocketboom, it's not relevant to the vast majority of videoblogs.

It's personal media. For the most part videoblogs are narrowly targeted to a small audience who I'm sure finds them consistently entertaining. They are not necessarily meant to be or try to be entertaining to a general audience. And because, unlike Rocketboom, an episode really only costs $20 or more likely $2, they can afford to be specific in what audience they aim for.

To be clear here, I'm not saying that I personally think that every videoblog out there is fantastic (my tastes aren't THAT eclectic). It just doesn't matter whether I think of them at all. What matters is that they can videoblog for what ever reason they choose to - to keep in touch with friends, document their lives, whatever. That in and of itself is a powerful thing. They don't have to be everything to everyone. The beauty is they can just be what they are and you can freely pick and choose the ones that seem to be made just for you.

There are already enough people doing it that I have about 80 videoblogs that I personally subscribe to that create more commercial free content than I have time to watch and that I find more entertaining and informative than most TV or movies.

I believe that when people learn that an alternative exists where they can create and share their own media, tell their own stories, and write the history of their own communities, the face of media will change forever. I think that blogging, podcasting and videoblogging could make that a reality in 2006. That's why I personally think, like the article says at the end, "the revolution may just be vloggerized."

Verdi

Make Movie

ChristianLindholm.com: The loop is closed - Podcasts from my Nokia N90 transformer available:

"What I would like to see next is dramatically simplified post production. I have learned that if I shoot video clips anytime from 5-15sec the individual clips are actually decent and I can often slot in a couple of retakes. ... What I am now acutely missing is a very simple form of clip merging. I would like to highlight the relevant clips in my timeline either on the mobile or on the PC and give a command 'Make movie'. "

via [ Myron ]

Embed Videos on your blog

HTML VIDEO EMBED Code Generator

Over on this page is a HTML code generator which allows videos to be embeded in your blog, making it into a video blog.

Works with: Windows Media (WMV) Flash (SWF) Flash (FLV) QuickTime (MOV) Real (RM) Other (AVI, MPG etc.)

Fantastic, fleeting moments

In a New York Times Select article entitled TV Stardom on $20 a Day by Robert Mackey, Chuck Olsen of Minnesota Stories says this about videoblogging:

"The point is to capture, and share, fantastic, fleeting moments."

Too bad the article is not freely accessible.

Update:
Chuck says it should be online Sunday.

TV Stardom on $20 a Day - requires NY Times registration.

The Theory of Love

Listen to Benjamin Walker's The Theory of Everything podcast, broadcast 29 "anatomy of a love story":

This week on the radio program: three love stories

Gwen Mascai tells us the story about what happens when New Yorker Lorri Davis sees the movie Paradise Lost: the child murders at Robin Hood Hills. Like many who see the film Lorri becomes convinced that the 3 boys convicted of the crimes are in fact innocent, and so she writes Damien Echols, who is on death row, a letter.

I listened this podcast on my iPod this morning, while taking a nice walk in the sunshine.

It's a good example of why podcasts are cool.

Listen when you want, where you want, and to what you want.

Bono - Love and Peace or Else

Bono - Love and Peace or Else by wwwayazdotcom, uploaded from flickr.

Nice photos from U2 in Boston.

Channel 101 and me

Andy Sullivan writes a nice article about Channel 101 and Yacht Rock, for Reuters.

I get a short mention:

"Video bloggers" like Steve Garfield's Video Blog (stevegarfield.blogs.com) post informal diary entries...

Diary entries?

Informal?

Hey Andy, did you take a look at more than just a few posts I've made?

I've got 50 episodes of The Carol and Steve Show on my video blog and 9 episodes of Vlog Soup.

Those are more than just informal diary entries.

I'm going to go out and take a walk now, then head back for a breakfast of bagels and lox. After that I'm going to head over to the flea market and get some watch batteries. Later on I'm going to head over to the mall to buy some underwear, then grab some dinner.

I feel pertty good, even though I had to sleep on my mom's couch. Yeah, I'm in Florida while Carol is up in Boston battling a blizzard. Seems like I'm always out of town when big storms hit Boston. I'd have to say that if you based storm predictions on my travel plans I'd be more accurate than the meteorologists.

We saw the play Jewtopia last night. I was disapointed. They went for a lot of easy jokes with some that were inappropriate. I'm spoiled by Curb Your Enthusiasm, the Office, and Extras.

This review of Jewtopia talks about how this version of the play has been changed from the one that is running in NYC:

Audiences who blush at this politically incorrect satire of ethnic pride may be surprised to learn that South Florida's Jewtopia is significantly more homogenized than earlier versions. The off-Broadway hit was rewritten and refined during a monthlong preview period at the Stage Door, in order to make it more palatable to middle America.

I should have seen it in New York. Probably would have enjoyed it more.

Sites that Reuters does not directly link to from their article, but should have:
Channel 101 (they do have a graphic link)
Yacht Rock
hackTV

links for 2005-12-09

• Ordered List by Steve Smith
  (tags: blog webdesign wordpress)

The 3:6:9 Rule of Videojournalism

To be a VJ.
via [ JD ]

Free wi-fi at Ft. Lauderdale Airport

The Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport provides travelers and guests free internet access through the airport's wireless system. This service is provided in all terminal and concourse areas.

This service rocks!

Hello Logan International Airport in Boston, take a look at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport to see how you can make travelers feel welcome.

Free WiFi is how.

Parody, celebrate, criticize.

Chilling Effects Clearinghouse:

"Do you know your online rights? Have you received a letter asking you to remove information from a Web site or to stop engaging in an activity? Are you concerned about liability for information that someone else posted to your online forum? If so, this site is for you."

links for 2005-12-08

• demsTV.com
  DemsTV to relaunch under the name politicsTV.com. Watch War on Christmas.
  (tags: watchthis vlog)

Don Warner Saklad has a blog

Guide to Problematical Library Use BPLer's Journal.

Scott Adams' Humor Formula

The Dilbert Blog: Humor Formula:

"In today’s blog entry I will teach you how to write humor, thus removing the mystery and in the process turning you into a joyless zombie, albeit a witty one."

Barminski

BARMINSKI.com home of painter, artist, director, teacher and designer bill barminski.

Yeah, it's a Flash site, but interesting.

White Balance For Video

White Balance For Video brought to you by Deter Blixenshitzer (Video Artist/Male Model), Louis Sparre and Temple University's Film and Media Arts Department.

This is much more entertaing than what I had planned.

Discovering the videoblogging community

At the start of session two of our video blogging class at CCTV in Cambridge last night we asked the students what they did between classes.

Community
One student, Lesley, said that she started watching a bunch of videos and visiting sites. After 10 minutes she noticed that people were pointing to other people, and that there really was a community around video blogging. 10 minutes into it and she got it. In real terms. She experienced the community and was amazed and excited about the possibilities. It was beautiful to hear her describe her discovery.

Finding Video
Another student, Patrick, described his experience at mefeedia. He enjoyed the mefeedia experience of being able to sample many videos from one site without having to hunt around to find video blog sites. He said that it felt like it was the most extensive collection of video blog videos on the web and was very happy with the experience.

First Videos
Here's Myron's first video blog post ever:


Here's Patrick's first video blog post.


I taught the class with Ravi Jain. Before the class we shot a little video, which might turn into a new project Street Corners of Boston. Ravi said he'd keep doing it, if I kept shooting.


Blog Software
We went through setting up a vlog on Wordpress.com and had some problems adding HTML to posts. Wordpress.com seems to strip out some HTML when you try to enter it. Wordpress.com doesn't like target="_blank". The consensus was that Blogger was beltter because it allows you to enter more HTML functions in the post entry area AND class mambers liked editing the HTML template better then going through forms. They found the forms frustrating even though they were HTML novices.

Video Hosting
Vimeo worked well for people. The class liked Blip.tv because after they upload their video, it was part of a video community right away. They also liked Blip's cross-posting features.

The students and Ravi loved the free Mac screen capture app I showed, ImageWell, for making their thumbnail images. Ravi Tip: Open up a blank browser window as a white background for your image before capturing. I use a new email window.

A Good Experience
Overall it was a good experience for everyone. We all learned a lot. Watch for the next video blogging class at the end of January.

Video links for 2005-12-07

• Snow Vlog (Milian)
  I love when the car passes by
  (tags: watchthis vlog)
• Syd and Me (90 Seconds of Dave)
  That's funny. Making faces. I like how what might have been a boring slide show of still photos was enhanced by turning it into a video.
  (tags: watchthis vlog)

Get your passport photo here

ePassportPhoto - the quickest and easiest way to get a valid passport photo.

I am so going to do this!

Vlog Soup: Episode 9

Join me for a free video tour of the video blogosphere in Vlog Soup: Episode 9.

Now playing!

I invented that child finder thing

Inventors' Association of New England, founded on July 28, 1977, is a group of inventors having a common interest in helping fellow inventors get their inventions moving along the right track.

World's Oldest Storyteller?

Kathy Holmes found my mom's blog and writes, Women's Fiction with Attitude: World's Oldest Blogger?:

"80 or not, she blogs because she's a storyteller. And that has nothing to do with age."

Right!

U2 Screen Captured

U2 Screen Captured by stevegarfield, uploaded from flickr.

U2 at the TD BankNorth Garden 12/05/05

Carol and I went to see U2 last night.

It was a fun time. The guy sitting beside me had seen U2 24 times previously. At one point he says, "Sunday Bloody Sunday is next."

Thanks a lot mister for ruining the movie for me. ;-)

Some people might like to be surprised by what song comes up next.

I enjoyed hearing U2 cover the Talking Heads/Al Green, The Clash and The Beatles.

Bono loves the crowd and the crowd loves him. Reminds me of a concert I saw with Bruce Springsteen one time.

It's funny how audio and video recording equipment is prohibited from the show, and everyone is recording with digital cameras and cell phones.

I'd like to see all the media that was created last night.

I also liked how everyone held up their glowing cell phones when Bono asked the crowd to message www.one.org. Just like that TV commercial.

Above the stage was a projection system highlighting each member of the band. The quality was amazing for the low light conditions.

I really enjoyed the encores. We sailed out of the parking garage, from the bottom level, because we left with one song to go.

Not many people leave a U2 concert early.

Update:
I posted some U2 video clips on my video blog.

MPEG4 to MOV

Steve Watkins writes on the Yahoo! Videoblogging Group list:

If you created the mp4 using quicktime, you can load it into quicktime and then select save as self-contained movie, and you will end up with a mov version in seconds, as no reencoding is required.

Converting the other way round, from a mpeg4 .mov to a .mp4, is easy and fast using quicktime pro. Open the mov and select 'export movie to mpeg4, but select 'pass-through' as the video and audio type. This will make a mp4 file from a mov without recompressing, and so is very fast.

Check out these junk drawers

SWAPATORIUM

memepool is still around

memepool.com

Stu Nicholls PLaYs with CSS

CSS PLaY.
via [ digg ]

Make Poverty History

Visit www.one.org

CIA prisons in Europe closed in November

CIA prisons in Europe closed in November: ABC News - Yahoo! News:

"In an expanded report on its Web site, ABC News cited sources directly involved in setting up the CIA secret prison system as saying that it began with the capture of Osama bin Laden lieutenant Abu Zabaydah in Pakistan.

ABC said Zabaydah was first held in Thailand in an unused warehouse on an active air base. The report said after Zabaydah recovered from life-threatening wounds, he was made to stand long hours in a cold cell and strapped feet up to a 'water board' until he begged for mercy and began to cooperate."

Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Bono and Celtics Banners

Where the Streets Have No Name by atu2, uploaded from flickr.

U2 at TD BankNorth Garden

Where the Streets Have No Name

Where the Streets Have No Name by atu2, uploaded from flickr.

U2 at TD Bank North Garden

U2 TD Banknorth Garden 12/05/05

U2 on Tour:

Main Set: City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo - Dirty Water - Take Me to the River, Elevation, Gloria, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Beautiful Day, Original of the Species - Norwegian Wood, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, Love and Peace or Else, Sunday Bloody Sunday - Rock the Casbah, Bullet the Blue Sky, Miss Sarajevo, Pride, Where the Streets Have No Name, One - She's a Mystery To Me

Encore(s): Until the End of the World, Mysterious Ways, With or Without You, Crumbs From Your Table, Instant Karma (full band), Yahweh, 40"

More later...

Why RSS Readers Are No Good

Stowe Boyd writes RSS Readering: Why RSS Readers Are No Good For Me (And You, Too, I Bet), and asks for, among other things, "A Del.icio.us module: given the current page, who of my friends has bookmarked the page, and what have they said?"

That's what I'm looking for in a vlog reader.

What's on the Pipeline?

You can try the CNN Pipeline online video service if you sign up for their $2.95/month plan. You get a 14-day free trial.

How about a free trial that's free of credit card registration?

And does anyone have a CNN Pipeline coupon code?

Corante Media Hub

Corante Media Hub:

"The Corante Media Hub is your starting point for keeping abreast of the best writing and thinking on media across the blogosphere and beyond. "

b2 or not b2

b2 - A classy news/weblog tool.

The Boston Globe Ombudsman's Blog

The Boston Globe Ombudsman now has a blog.

The Globe's future in WiFi.

Globe Editor Martin Baron told me last week that the newspaper is doing more ''to enhance the print product on the website." In one project, web editors will be assigned to work directly with news editors to explore ways to make stories more multi-media oriented, with audio clips from interviews, narration from reporters, or video shot from the scene.

Cool.

Vote for the Best Video Blog

Starting today you can vote in The Weblog Awards: Best Video Blog category.

I'm excited to see that this year The Weblog Awards have included a videoblog category. My videoblog is nominated along with some of my favorite vlogs. They've also included some that I haven't seen before... I'm going to check them all out.

Vote today and everyday.

You can, it's in the rules.

Media Influencer

It looks like Adriana is Media Influencer.

Les Blogs blog

LES BLOGS 2 - Paris December 5-6th 2005.
We'll always have Paris.

I'm heading into the backchannel on irc.freenode.net #lesblogs

Gabe Mac is sending in video reports. Here's the first video blog post from Les Blog 2.0.

Skip it if you are bored by panels.

Self-Portrait

Make your own caricature.

Converting the low-tech

TechEvangelists:

"Tech Evangelists is a collective of early adopters and enthusiasts exploring the terrain that interests us the most and attempting to take the low-tech along."

Watch for videos, coming soon.

Please Tip Your Bloggers

Ronni Bennet, whose finances have been stretched wee bit thin, writes, Time Goes By - What it's really like to get older:

"I value every one of you who reads and comments at Time Goes By which - out of our collective effort, is becoming a rich resource of thoughts, ideas and information about getting older - and donations are your personal choice, although surely appreciated. As I read somewhere while looking into this blog issue, “it’s nice if someone [who finds value in Time Goes By] pays without being required to.”"

Talking Heads Are Boring

Web usability guru Jakob Nielsen says that Talking-Head Video Is Boring Online.

I'm a big fan of David Byrne and the Talking Heads.

The Talking Heads are not boring.

A talking head, it depends.

If you've got one talking head, talking directly into a camera on a video, it's just like a podcast with a still image. Although the viewer might be bored with the images presented, and their eyes might wander, this doesn't necessarily mean that they would be bored by the content.

If you've got multiple talking heads on a video, the video helps you follow the conversation and who's talking.

If you've got a talking head on a video, demonstrating something or showing you something, then you've got a video that might be worth watching.

Download Singles to your iPod

PodDater.com

Hello? Mica

Mica is the first videoblogger on the Gallexy Blog Board.

The Happy Train

The Cultural Farmer sent me a link to a movie that he shot late at night on the Blue Line.

I told him I was waiting for the people, that he was filming, to beat him up.

The Cultural Farmer replies:

It was a happy train. A drunk train. It was 1am. Once in the car, we all waited another 35 minutes before we departed. It was like a SNL skit.

No one minded me video taping... except the T security. After about a half hour, they actually came into the car a said I had to delete all video of the station. I looked at them and laughed, then we all laughed!

That was the video I MISSED.

The future of Internet TV?

The Virginian-Pilot is putting video on the web at HamptonRoads.TV.

I like how the current playlist plays one video after another when you visit the site.
via [ JD ]

Vlog Santa

The culturally insensitive Vlog Santa answers my question about Hanukkah Joe and his Flying Menorah on Minnesota Stories.

Send in your questions.

Edit CSS in real time and see your changes

Russell Beattie Notebook points us to the FireFox Web Developer Extension which will allow me to see what my changes to CSS will do to the current video blog site I'm working on, It's Jerry Time.

This is going to make me very happy!

PS: It's snowing.

Massively Multiplayer Online Truth

Joho the Blog: Massively Multiplayer Online Truth:

"The old, romantic view of truth was lonely. This one is social, and thus is joyful."

As more and more people start videoblogging, we'll be able to watch to their video records of events and determine for ourselves what the truth was.

The more people who are doing it, the better chance we have of finding out the truth.

Want to see what happened at the first vloggercon on January 22, 2005?

Visit the vloggercon blog and watch the video from the sessions.

Bank of America Sucks

Like all of America, I sat down this morning to pay my bills online at Bank of America, only to get an error message.

I tried to log in again, as they suggest, and it still doesn't work.

Dear Bank of America,
You need to improve the interface to your online systems.

One more thing, when I click the checkbox for you to Save this online ID, I expect you to save my online ID and not forget it like you continually do.

And while I have you on the line, when are you, Bank of America, going to bring back customized Fast Cash withdrawals and Stamps at your ATM's like Fleet Bank used to have.

Withdrawals at Fleet bank ATMs used to take one keystroke, after entering in your PIN #.

Your statements are confusing too.

Validate your feeds

Feed Validator for Atom and RSS.

Invasion of the pod people

David Tames writes about podcasting for NEFilm, Media Revolution: Podcasting:

"Invasion of the pod people

The white ear buds are everywhere. No matter where you go today, one thing's for sure, you're bound to run into people who are listening to music on their iPods when they're not talking on their mobile phones. But music is not the only content people are listening to -- podcasts are part of the mix...

A podcast, however, is not limited to audio and may contain video (called a vodcast or video podcast) and there are a growing number of video blogs on the web, for example Rocket Boom and Steve Garfield's Video Blog, reputed to be the first."

$150 Rebate on iMac at Amazon.com

This is so tempting.

The new Apple 20" iMac is now discounted at Amazon.com AND has a $150 rebate.


Note to self:
Crucial recommends these memory upgrades for the iMac (G5-2.1GHz, 20-inch) DDR2.

I have the new Final Cut Studio which includes Final Cut 5, Motion 2, DVD Studio Pro 4, and Soundtrack Pro, but can't use it on my 667Mhz PowerBook. Too slow.

Ravi recently bought a new iMac and then a few days later a newer iMac came out.

MacWorld is coming next month and Carol suggests waiting.

Joshua is expecting faster processor speeds.

The Quad Desktop looks sweet, Rumors report that an INTEL box on the way, but it sounds like an INTEL based iBook will be first.

What would you do?

2 degree Celsius = 35.6 degree Fahrenheit

Unit Conversion - Temperature Converter.

Absent presence

iMedia revolution is here:

"People spend 10 hours a day with media, according to a study by the media research company Veronis Suhler Stevenson. Michael Bull, a University of Sussex professor who specialises in studying the behaviour of iPod users, says that Pod People tend to live in a state he calls 'absent presence - you're there, but you're not really there'."

If you need me I be at the club listening to Adam Curry on my iPod.

Why: Hyphens into phone numbers

David Weinberger reports on a talk by Ted Nelson at the Oxford Internet Institute:

There are hidden agendas in most technological decisions. He asks why programs insist on us not entering spaces or hyphens into phone numbers. "The real technical reason is the programmer is a jerk." The engineer, says Ted, passively-aggressively requires the user to do something "rigorous." This is the techie mentality at its worst. Software is too important to be left to the techies; they need an "overarching vision."

Ted goes on to talk about "Transliterature" and says, "I want to make it possible for everything to be remixed."

I've been thinking about this recently. It's kind of like normalizing a relational database. Instead of having duplicate data everywhere, it'd much better to have one instance of the data that everyone points to.

Peter at Mefeedia has been experimenting with this idea with his make a quote feature where you can reference a clip from a video.

Here's an example:


"Josh Leo is pilgrim shopping" (Quicktime movie quote using Mefeedia. Original movie found at Josh Leo's Vlog.)



This is pretty cool. The problem is that you need to go to mefeedia to use it, so if you are watching video on another site, from your desktop, or with a video aggregator such as FireAnt, you can't quote it.

So the 'overarching vision" here would be for a tool that works with whatever video you are watching. This tool would allow you to grab a section and remix it, while maintaining links to the original source location. The remixed video would have links back to all the metadata from the original video.

Check out A Gentle Introduction to Ted Nelson's ZigZag Structure.

World Aids Day

AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts.

It's JerryTime! - The Landlord

There's a new episode of It's JerryTime! - The Landlord.

Video Podcasts at iTunes

The iTunes Music Store now features video podcasts.

Not mine.

Yet.

But they are featuring video podcasts.

Now all they need to do is set up a category for video podcasts.